Food glorious food

On bank holiday Monday, James and I headed for Castle Howard. It’s one of Britain’s finest historic houses (according to the publicity). It’s so famous that the address is just “Castle Howard, York, North Yorkshire” – how cool is that? It’s actually nearer Malton than York, but that’s the post office for you.

It was a beautiful sunny day if a little breezy. Well, ok, extremely windy. There was a food festival on, which was great and we got the chance to taste loads of stuff – cooked fish, strawberries, sausages, asparagus, olives, curry sauce, pickles, lamb burgers, sloe gin, pork pies, chocolate, cheese, real ale, smoked trout, to name but a few. And yes, it was mostly in that type of order – strange, but surprisingly pleasant.

We sat in on 2 cookery demonstrations. Firstly several types of fish were filleted, explained and cooked (yum, we are definitely trying that at home) and then the Castle Howard head butcher showing how to dissect a whole lamb into all the various cuts of meat (don’t think we’ll try that at home).

We then joined a tour of the walled garden and potager (Victorian kitchen vegetable & fruit garden) and then took a look inside the house (sadly no inspiration for my own home, but always worth a look).

A full day, with loads to do and see, and a great way to spend a bank holiday, rounded off with a visit to James’s parents farm 10 minutes away. We finished our outing with a walk around the lakes and a look at the sheep and then back for tea and home-made cake. Do we really have to go back to work tomorrow?